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LIVE BLOG: IREJ Forecast Conference “State of the Market” panel

JLL’s Len Caldeira is moderating a panel discussion of local CRE industry leaders: Tom D’Arcy from Hines, Steve Schnur from Duke Realty, Don Schoenheider from Liberty Property Trust and two local brokers.

9:15 a.m. – D’Arcy on the CRE lending climate looking forward: “It’s a three-legged stool: you need tenants, you need 50 percent equity and you need bank financing [to start construction of a new office tower]. The hardest thing to come by is definitely the equity.”

9:20 a.m. – Schnur on industrial spec development: “The biggest problem is the equity. For the returns that are available, it’s hard to justify [building]. I think it’s still 10 to 12 months out.”

9:25 a.m. – Schoenheider on industrial demand: “For the first time in years, there is far more demand for 500,000-square-foot space right now than there is availability.”

9:30 a.m. – D’Arcy on office demand in the CBD: “The demand has never been better, since 2007, than what we saw last quarter. There is big demand from law firms and the high-tech sector as well as a lot of organic growth.”

9:35 a.m. – Schnur on “the new normal:” “The biggest impediment that we are seeing today is fear. If you look at consumer confidence, 16 percent say the business climate is good and 34 percent say it’s bad. Among investors, there’s still a big fear of being wrong.”

9:42 a.m. – Schoenheider on industrial demand: “A lot of demand is being driven by 3PLs … more than 30 percent in the top 20 markets.”

9:45 a.m. – Caldeira on the news media: “It gets a little old just hearing about the bad [economic] news. If we heard more about the positive trends, maybe things would start to be a little better.”

9:48 a.m. – Schoenheider on regulation and the lending markets: “All of us would love the banks to lend and loosen up credit, but the uncertainty surrounding potential new regulation is really prohibiting them from doing that.”

9:50 a.m. – Schnur on competition between states: “We need to do something at the federal level to stop the interstate in-fighting. Nobody is benefiting from that.”

JLL's Chicago blog offers expert insight on news and trends for owners, investors and tenants of commercial real estate. Learn more about our services and our professionals to see how they’ve helped clients throughout the Chicago area with their commercial real estate needs.

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